About Cleft Lip & Palate

A cleft lip and palate occur when a baby is
born with an opening in the roof of the mouth (palate) and the upper
lip does not fully form.

These conditions can occur separately so that some children are born
with a cleft lip but a normal palate, and some have a cleft palate but
a normal upper lip.

A completely formed lip is important not only for a normal facial
appearance but also for sucking and to form certain sounds made during
speech.

What is the
Palate?

The palate is the roof of your mouth. You can feel your own
palate by running your tongue over the top of your mouth. If you open
your mouth and look into a mirror you will see that the palate extends
from your teeth all the way back to the little dangling extension,
called the uvula, in the middle of the back of your mouth.

Some facts about the palate:

it's made of bone and muscle and covered by a thin, wet skin that
forms the red covering inside the mouth

it separates your nose from your mouth much like a floor separates
the basement from the ground floor

it's important for speech: preventing air from blowing out of your
nose instead of your mouth when you talk

it's important for eating: preventing food and liquids from going
up into the nose

during swallowing, the tongue presses up against the palate and
pushes the chewed food to the back of the throat where it then goes
down into the stomach

What is a Cleft Palate?

A
cleft is a gap or split between two objects. A cleft
palate is one that has not formed properly during the baby's
growth inside of the mother. There is a split in the palate leaving a
hole between the nose and the mouth.

If the split is not fixed, the child may develop problems with
eating, swallowing, talking, and sometimes with hearing. Examples of
such problems include food or liquids coming out from the nose while
eating, repeated sinus and ear infections, and poor speech with a nasal
sounding voice that is very hard to understand. If the cleft involves
the bone of the upper jaw, the child's teeth may also be affected which
can alter the child's ability to chew.

How Common is This Condition?

Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common birth defects,
occurring in one of every 500-1000 babies.

Fortunately, there are specialized medical teams who perform surgery
and provide the therapy needed to correct these conditions.

Children who are born with cleft
lip and palate
are able to live normal and healthy lives.

Doctors and scientists do know how cleft palates form, but
they still do not have a complete explanation for why they
occur, or what causes them.

A combination of the child's inherited traits and the environment
within the mother's womb during pregnancy is thought to be the most
likely cause of clefting in an infant. In some way, the growth and
development of the face are disrupted, resulting in a cleft.